Ride in a motorcoach to Victoria’s Butchart Gardens to experience one of the most magical displays of the holiday season. From December to early January, a festive array of tens of thousands of colored lights, evergreen swags and wreaths of holly and winterberries line Butchart Gardens' walkways and lampposts. Get in the holiday spirit with the Twelve Days of Christmas displays, enjoy live performances featuring traditional caroling and music in the Piazza or ice-skate around an outdoor rink. With three different departure times and return trips, including one with ample time to also dine at The Gardens, you can appreciate the glory of the twinkling lights at your leisure.

Highlights

Butchart Gardens holiday tour from Victoria

Travel by motorcoach to Butchart Gardens

Skate around an outdoor ice rink

Admission to gardens included

Visit the world-famous Butchart Gardens during the holiday season to enjoy the famous light display

Choice of departures throughout the day

What You Can Expect

Butchart Gardens Holiday Lights

From downtown Victoria, depart in your motorcoach to Butchart Gardens, 14 miles (23 kilometers) away. Choose from a 2pm, 4:30pm or 6:30pm departure to view the former quarry right as the sun begins to set or deep into the evening. In the winter, the quarry’s 55-acres of lush vegetation transform into a twinkling wonderland of tens of thousands of lights, strung up into festive illuminations only viewable after the sun dips.

Wind your way through the winterberries, wreaths of holly and evergreen swags lit up in the holiday display. The illuminated walkways will also take you past the popular 12 Days of Christmas vignettes, which include colorful lights and charming figurines. To continue the feeling of holiday cheer, wander to the Piazza for rousing carols and traditional music performances. You can even don a pair of skates and glide around the 3,300-square foot (307-square meter) outdoor rink.

Choose from three return times—5:15pm, 7:30pm, and 9:15pm—to end your visit to this once-a-year attraction on your own time, with plenty of opportunity to soak up the holiday spirit before returning home.

If you’d like to maximize your time exploring the grounds of Butchart Gardens, choose the 4:30pm departure from Victoria and dine at the on-premise restaurant, The Gardens. For an additional cost, you can sample seasonal dishes and gaze out the floor to ceiling windows at the holiday display outside. Utilizing ingredients from local farms and purveyors, past dishes have included oven-roasted turkey served with seasonal root vegetables, organic squash bisque and a composed salad of winter greens.

Customer Reviews

The bus driver was informative and fun.
The gardens at Christmas were magnificent beyond description. What a good feeling it was to pull in on the bus, right up to the front past the hundreds of cars trying to get in and park. Well worth the money.

Details

Inclusions

Entrance fee to Butchart Gardens

Local taxes

Exclusions

Food and drinks

Ice-skating fees

Gratuities (optional)

Additional info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking

Wheelchair Access:Butchart Gardens offers
wheelchair hire for a fully refundable $10 deposit. If a passenger is in
their own collapsible wheelchair, but not completely confined to it and
are able to board the bus unassisted, the chair can be stored as
luggage. If a passenger is confined to a wheelchair, please advise at
time of booking and wheelchair access will be requested.

Voucher info

You can present either a paper or an electronic voucher for this activity.
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Local operator information

Complete Operator information, including local telephone numbers at your destination, are included on your Confirmation Voucher. Our Product Managers select only the most experienced and reliable operators in each destination, removing the guesswork for you, and ensuring your peace of mind.